“TUHAO,” a term originally referred to rural lords who bullied their countrymen and became a target of communist class struggle, is back in fashion, albeit with a different connotation.

The phrase “tuhao, let’s be friends?” has gone viral in the past month after it was first used in an ironic joke: a rich and unhappy man seeks help from a Buddhist master, who, after hearing how rich the man is, pauses — then, rather than offering sage advice, asks to be friends.

A series of events helped to popularize the term, including the release of Apple’s new champagne-colored iPhone 5S — dubbed “ tuhao gold” — and the star-studded opening ceremony of Wanda Group’s film production project in Qingdao in Shandong Province.

Tu (uncultured) and hao (rich), convey Chinese’s complex feelings towards the rich: a mix of jealousy of their wealth and disapproval of how they obtained it and what they buy.

“Tuhao are to be friends with, to be ridiculed and to be overthrown — nowadays in the form of virtual violence,” said Zhu Dake , dean of the Cultural Criticism Research Center at Tongji University.

Only a few years ago, tuhao barely existed outside the context of a well-known Red Army slogan “overthrow tuhao and divide up their lands.”

The term gained currency last year within online gaming communities, where it was used to describe players who would often splash out a small fortune through games by buying equipment for their characters.

“It carried the meaning they were simple-minded and just had money to spend,” said Wei Qingwang, a psychology lecturer at Renmin University of China, who pointed out the other buzzwords for the rich, such as fuerdai (second-generation rich) and gaofushuai (tall, rich and handsome), have been imbued with negativity after incidents that sparked public outrage.

The unfair or illegal means by which some amassed their fortune in the course of the country’s opening-up has given rise to simmering resentment towards the rich. Xu Jianhua, assistant professor in sociology at the University of Macao, said mainland society had moved from being one of relative equality to one with a wide wealth gap within a short time, which had intensified ill will.

Dr. Chen Zhansheng, assistant professor in psychology at the University of Hong Kong, said labels satisfied the human need for affirmation and differentiation. “Seeing others’ resourcefulness and power has a negative impact on one’s self-evaluation,” Chen said: “Labeling them as tu alleviates that impact and brings psychological balance.”

However, Tongji University’s Zhu added: “If God gave them the chance to choose, most of those who ridicule tuhao would not hesitate to become one.”

Such feelings towards the rich, Wei said, reflected the confusion of values in a society undergoing transition.

“People are psychologically adjusting to changes in social stratification and the pursuit of material wealth. The story of the Buddhist master and the unhappy tuhao is spot on, which is why it resonated with so many people so quickly,” Wei said.

Tuhao is not the only word from the old communist lexicon that has made a comeback in popular culture, Zhu said. A prime example is xiaozi — “petit bourgeoisie” in Chinese — formerly the term for an enemy class that was appropriated in the ’90s to describe a lifestyle spent chasing higher living standards.